Rise of the Stars
by CrazyCharlette-Real Reloaded
Summary: The Voltron Force thought that their troubles were over when Lotor and Maahox finally fell. But that was only the beginning. A whole new experience will push the limits and strengths of the Force to breaking point, and everybody has their secrets. The Space Rogues return and challenge Fate for their destiny, and now the stars have begun to truly rise and shine in the night sky...


**Voltron Force is owned by WEP and I own the Space Rogues.**

**Ages in this fic as so not to cause confusion:**

**Keith: 28, ****Bryan: 28, ****Lance: 27, ****Claire: 26, ****Hunk: 28, ****Kick: 28, ****Pidge: 25, ****Maiya: 24, ****Allura: 26, ****Kyre: 27, ****Daniel: 18, ****Vince: 18, ****Larmina: 17, ****Cobalt: 19, ****Roxxy: 17, ****Bennie: 19, ****Meliss: 18 and ****Max: 19**

* * *

Maiya Kliro watched as the neon lights of her home planet slowly flickered to life, replacing the natural glow of the sun with even more brighter, artificial lights. Swinging her legs gently, she adjusted her seat on the edge of a random building and made herself comfortable.

Balto was among the galaxy's top technologically-advanced planets, and with a reputation for their complex codes and ingenious inventions. It was the top exporter of the latest info-chips and holophones, with the trade being the economy's main source of income. The night sky was surprisingly dotted with many stars, despite the artificial lights below.  
Besides being advanced technology-wise, Balto was a major environment-friendly planet too, so there were no gases or air pollution to block the stars.

To her surprise, she saw Green Lion and Blue Lion from the Voltron Force enter the atmosphere, alighting in the plaza square. To add to her surprise, she saw for the first time a small teledoor was there, with more branching off to other locations on the planet.

Then she remembered with a start. It was Intergalactic Ninja Appreciation Day! How could she have forgotten her own planet's celebration? Cursing ferociously at herself, she raced back to her apartment and pulled on her usual outfit - a black jacket top with black tights. Donning her personal headset, applying her eyeliner and tying her lush black mane of hair into a thick ponytail, she checked that her ninja hood was in place and slid on her old RogueLink. Looking at it made her wonder how her former teammates were doing. Were they also like her, living a life scraped by stealing and working part-time? Or were they living the high life, enjoying luxuries and forgetting their past?

The bell to her apartment rang and she went to the door to see who was there. The Ninja Tourney official for Maiya's block entered the room and registered her, before asking questions and then placing her name in the 'Experienced' category. After locking her door and slipping her key into a disguised groove in her RogueLink, she followed the official as he collected more competitors for the tourney and they made their way to the square. All the women had to wear some piece of personalized tech and her TechSet was no exception. Some girls even had ridiculous wigs wired with cutting-edge technology.

In the middle was Green Lion ex-Pilot Pidge with the new pilot, Vince and his companions, Lady Larmina of Arus and the Blue Lion and Daniel of the Black Lion. The rumour was that he was infected with Haggarium and he had to undergo a round of Technotherapy each week to keep his infection at bay. But it was just a rumour.

Pidge, being the main attraction, was constantly swarmed by possibly all the Baltan girls in the universe. Even the women from her block screamed and dashed to him, making him grin even more nervously.

"Dude! I knew that Baltan girls were also techno-ninjas but MAN! They make crazy fangirls!" Vince commented, earning a nod of approval from Larmina.

"I highly doubt that anyone's recognized me. Not that I want them to," she laughed. Pushing her flaming hair behind her ears, she tried to form a human barricade with Vince and Daniel, linking hands. She reddened slightly as she touched Daniel's fingers with her own, making him smile charmingly. It didn't matter that he was infected, he was still her Daniel.

A sudden wave of girls made her squeak and grip the Asian's hand even tighter. She was too focused on protecting Pidge from the fangirl vultures to notice him staring at a single girl with a stupid amount of black hair and a weird headset. But before her grip on Vince's could break, the voice of the mayor saved her from that disaster.

"People of Balto! It is my greatest pleasure to announce the opening of Intergalactic Ninja Appreciation Day! For the following 24 hours, there will be a whole spree of ninja-based activities to choose from! And the day after tomorrow, there will be a Ninja Tournament to discover the best ninja who will then take on Pidge Cirtus himself!"

The spotlight was all on him now, making him wave. All of the girls screamed again, making some of the boys closest to them groan and switch on their sound-mufflers.

After a short yet meaningful speech, he smiled brightly and raised his hand, ready to snap the holographic ribbon with holo-scissors. "I officially announce Intergalactic Ninja Appreciation Day...OPEN!"

* * *

A day later, after the celebrations and the technoworks had scattered across the night sky, the foreign visitors began to make their way back home, leaving the Baltans to their own turf again. The cleaner bots scoured the ground, picking up every bit of rubbish and after scanning it, placing it in the corresponding bag. Pidge, now very thoroughly bored by now, stifled a yawn. Chip, however, saw straight through this and set about that.

"We're heading back to my apartment, pronto!" he ordered, marching the protesting pilot to the downtown district. "I don't care if Green Lion has sleeping quarters in it or the seats can be transformed into beds or even if you sleep outside! You deserve a proper bed with a pillow and some good hot food!"

"But-but you need to work on your degree!" Pidge cried out. "What will-!"

"I don't give a Space Mouse's butt; we're going!" he commanded, earning a sigh of defeat from his twin. "And don't say anything just because you're my older twin by a few minutes!"

They were just a few blocks away from Chip's apartment when they saw a commotion involving a rather scrawny-looking girl with matted honey hair, two thugs and that same girl from before. They ran over, joining the crowd.

The thugs apparently had teased the girl when the older girl stepped in, threateningly standing in front of the girl. They heard her growl at the thugs, silencing the murmuring crowd.

"What has she ever done to you? I think you two should just back off and go somewhere else," she said, adjusting her right TechSet spike. The thugs grinned at each other and activated their chameleon suits, rendering them invisible.

"Should we help?" Larmina asked, switching on her VoltCom. Her staff or her hands and feet hadn't kicked butt all today, and boy, she was fired up. Her eagerness was shattered when Pidge shook his head, waiting to see what the girl would do.

Her red shades suddenly turned transparent and she activated something that suspiciously looked like a VoltCom on her left forearm. The circuit lines running along the gadget turned green and a slew of holographic leaves appeared in her hands. Laughter could be heard among the crowd but it was quickly replaced with cries of awe as she expertly hurled them at thin air, pinning the thugs to the ground and turning them visible. They easily ripped themselves free of the leaf stars and they advanced on her, their own throwing stars in their hands. Smirking, the black-haired girl flicked a switch on her VoltCom look-alike and dual-bladed swords flashed to life in her hands. She adjusted her left TechSet spike so that her shades turned violet and then ran up to the thugs, using the momentum to throw herself at them with amazing speed. She slapped them in the face with the flat of the blades and delivered a powerful axe kick to their pressure points, knocking them out.

After glaring at the ones who whistled at her performance, she walked over to the girl who was crouching and murmured something in her ear. The younger girl bowed her head, clearly embarrassed, and rose up.

Pidge made his way through the group towards the two girls and smiled. But before he could talk, Daniel beat him to it.

"Wow! That was slick! I mean, you were like, _kiai! _Then you were all like, _eat leaves! _and going, _let's see you pull your way out of these babies!_ _BAM! _AWESOME!" he excitedly yelled. Larmina and Vince snickered, seeing Pidge's hurt expression. "You're like the ninja of all girl ninjas!"

She laughed. "Well, it's nice to see that I've made a very excitable fan, especially from the Voltron Force. I'm Maiya. Maiya Kliro and this little troublemaker here is Meliss Hexis," she added, leaning over and flicking a button on Meliss's arm. Her ragged appearance transformed into an Asian, with silky black hair and twinkling violet eyes. Her scrawny figure was now lean and streamlined, with a Flight Academy Pin of Graduation on her shoulder and her miserable-looking expression was replaced with an alert, yet shy look. Her rags were now a pair of factory pants and a t-shirt, with a large chain of green links around her waist.

"Hey," she waved, smiling noticeably at Vince. He stuttered a hello, earning a playful nudge from a devilishly grinning Daniel.

"Looks like you've landed yourself an admirer," he whispered.

"Hey! She smiled brightly at you!" he defended, holding his hands up.

His fellow pilot rolled his eyes. "Duh. Cuz we're both Asians!"

"So, are you planning on entering the Ninja Tournament?" Pidge asked, beginning to walk towards his brother's apartment.

"Yes, in Combat and Style," she replied, holding back a snicker.

"What the - a Style contest? What is this, a beauty pageant?!" Larmina cried out, attracting some attention. "I thought this was a Ninja Tournament!"

"It is," Chip explained, "but you can't leave out the women as well. So we've created some feminine competitions and they're becoming very popular. Especially with the NinjaWalk."

Maiya retained a quiet disposition, looking at Larmina who was now talking with Daniel. Personally, she thought that Pidge was a sweet yet wily man, humble and headstrong. She decided that if the Rogues were to ever band again, he would be the last one she would betray.

Unknown to her, he was also having a thoughtful reverie himself. In his mind's eye, he saw her as a fierce and gentle woman, with intellect matching his. He had to admit, that headset of hers was an advanced piece of technology; he could see that just by glancing at the intricate lines that ran along it and how easily she changed the settings. He couldn't conjure a single reason to betray her.

They reached Chip's apartment block and they both entered it, going up the hyperlift and to his room. Maiya and Meliss briefly waved goodbye before the lift doors closed and the lift shot upwards, leaving Pidge to nothing but tightly closed doors.

* * *

Claire MacLean and Roxxy Smythe both snickered to themselves, looking at the frustrated shopkeeper in search for his missing crate of raspberries. He swore in Japanese before stomping inside, hearing him sharply yell at his employees. The two women helped themselves to the ripe berries, popping them in their mouths and feeling the berries explode with tart sweetness.

"You're right, Claire! I guess swiping from ol' Yamiko was a good idea!" the brunette giggled, her tongue already stained with red. She continued to scarf down on the fruits before having her eager hand slapped away by her mentor.

"Ah ah! Don't eat the lot. We'll store 'em in the cold box and see if we can snatch some lamb," she told her, washing her hands in water. "I'll distract and you steal, and remember the rule: All work and no play makes a thief a dumb girl. Ready?"

"Yep," Roxxy replied, changing into her rags. Claire slid on her RogueLink and switched it on to standby, staring at her gadget. It still bore the slight scorch that Fyre spat at her a good few years ago, narrowly missing her face by a mere few millimetres. She smiled, still seeing her MechaTiger's face seemingly glaring at her.

Motioning for the redhead to crawl across the buildings and pocketing a few precious gold coins, they set off at a moderate pace towards the butcher. When they approached the butcher, they saw Voltron Force pilot Lance Fitzworthy merrily talking to the butcher, Ronald Firthing. They were in a very lively conversation, both heatedly arguing about something and even throwing a few Baltan, Verifican and Arusian curses at each other. Claire smirked to herself and walked up to them, waving.

"Well, hello, gentlemen! Are we enjoying our argument?" she cheerily interrupted, earning a suave grin from Lance and a greeting smile from Ronald. "It seems that the topic of the Intergalactic Football Association is circulating throughout the city like wildfire!"

"Well of course, your stunning beauty rages even hotter than the wildest fire!" the Voltron pilot complimented with a flirting smile, earning a girlish giggle and a playful slap. "It's true!"

After heartily chuckling at the antics of the pilot, the butcher turned to the woman. "How may I help you today, Miss MacLean?"

"Oh, I'd like to buy some lamb," she answered, showing the gold coins. He grinned and led her inside, missing the expertly trained shadow of Roxxy darting out of the storeroom into the receiving bay. He ambled into the storeroom and bought out a hunk of the pink meat. He heaved it onto the table and weighed it on the scales, landing at a total of one kilogram.

"Two gold coins, please," Ronald said, holding out his meaty hand. Claire smiled and dropped the coins on his palm and the butcher placed the lamb in a bag and handed it to her. After waving with her hand, she let out a small huff and hoisted the bag over her shoulder, blowing a kiss to Lance as she went down the street. It wasn't long before she felt a strong, ironlike grip on her wrist. She let out a cry, whirling around to meet him, his nose brushing against hers. His nut-brown eyes held the kind of knowing gleam that the Voltron pilots always had. But instead of backing up, she grinned. And activating her Heat Touch, slapped him hard.

He cursed viciously in Baltan and staggered, giving her the time to run. She bolted down the street, turning into an alley and throwing the lamb into a hidden cold box. After quickly locking it with her RogueLink, she brought out her Fire Rifle and leapt on to the roof, motioning for Roxxy to run to safety. Seeing Lance run towards her, she fired an endless barrage of flaming bullets, receiving a shower of shots back. She stuck her tongue out rebelliously and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, dodging the fired shots with amazing agility. She transferred her rifle to her other hand and afer making sure that her Fire Feathers were on, jumped off a particularly tall building and her holographic red wings spread out, catching a wonderful updraft. She glided effortlessly, turning around to meet her adversary. He was now in Red Lion, who was growling at her. She landed on its muzzle, causing him to growl even more, to the point that it became a snarl. She then switched her rifle for her Heat Whip and cracked it, sending the lion reeling. After delivering a firm whacking to Red's eyes, she proceeded to fly away rather quickly, wishing to avoid a direct confrontation. If only she could get access to Fyre...

Wait a second! She could! After cloaking her heat signal and sending out a decoy to send Lance and Red flying the opposite way, she shot all the way to the wastelands of Urban City and landed on a specific patch of junk. A retina scanner popped out from the ground and after scanning her eye, it retracted and the piece of steel she was standing on opened and she dropped down 30 metres into a garage. Obviously, she landed on something soft to cushion her fall and after clambering off the pad, she ran to the dormant robotic tiger that majestically lay there. Her lifeless grey eyes glowed a brilliant crimson and she let out a tremendous roar, shaking the garage and making some of the lights crash. After chuckling at the display, Claire petted the robot tiger's muzzle, earning a deep-throated purr. Fyre knelt and opened her jaw, allowing her pilot to enter.

_It's good to see you again, my friend, _she purred, sending a wonderful wave of warmth over her pilot. _I was beginning to think that you had left me for good._

"I would never even dream of it!" Claire replied, shocked. The shock turned into euphoria and she inserted her RogueKey into the keyport, bypassing the security that Maiya had installed. Activating the ceiling door via remote, she flexed her fingers and smiled, knowing that her tiger's first battle in three years would be against a Voltron Lion. And pretty much everyone knew that tigers were superior to lions.

_I agree. And knowing that mere fact makes my claws and teeth itch to scrape across that lion's flank! _Fyre roared, rearing up on her hind legs. Claire smiled, patting the dashboard.

"You're not alone. Now let's kick some lion butt!" Cranking up the flight, power and defense factors, she grinned wildly and pushed the control stick upwards, letting out a whoop of joy as the sky rushed towards her. They shot out of the garage, sending all junk within a five-mile radius heaving up into the air and crashing back down again. This of course, attracted attention from Red and Lance, making them run to the wastelands. Red's golden eyes suddenly morphed into red, causing Fyre's red eyes to turn yellow.

_You! _the lion roared, digging his claws into the metal. He suddenly arched his tail and opened his jaw, spitting out Lance on to the scrap. _I thought that blasted Zarkon took care of you on Crydor!_

_Well, he didn't do a very good job of it, _Fyre snarled back, ejecting her pilot as well. She was hurled out in surprise, activating her Heat Whip out of instinct. She landed on Lance with an oomph, and the tigress and lion both started to fight in mid-air.

When Claire realized who she was on top of, she tried to jump off but ended up on the bottom instead. The Voltron Pilot had his Hot Hands on and he was ready to pummel her to bits. Even if she was a girl.

The sound of screeching metal made them look up, as their respective vehicles started to lock their jaws and claws together. Sparks literally flew off the titanium surfaces as Fyre and Red both reared up on their hind legs and viciously clawed at each other, not caring if they injured their pilots in the process. Fyre growled and raised her tail, the blaster tip glowing a bright red. Moments later, a blast of magma shot out of the tip, hitting Red square in the jaw.

He roared and stumbled back, being hit with a flurry of magma. After managing to recover some lost ground, he opened his mouth and repelled the magma with his own blast of fire. They were evenly matched, until the sound of shots being fired made them stop.

Having his Dual Pistols out, Lance was relentlessly firing shots at Claire, who dodged them all with expert agility and formed her Fire Rifle. Taking cover behind a wall of scrapped titanium, she poked the muzzle of the rifle over the edge and peered through the periscope, retaliating with her own bullets.

Realizing that they were both evenly matched in all perspectives, Lance gritted his teeth and dove behind a heap of metal, clicking the distress button on his VoltCom. Oh, he was going to suffer a millennia of taunts from Daniel and Pidge for this.

* * *

Keith and Allura were talking with Hunk about what to do with the Hunkyard when their VoltComs started to beep. Even after her coronation, Allura still wore her VoltCom everywhere she went, albeit discreetly. After seeing that the signal was from Earth and more importantly, from Lance, they all glanced at each other and the two men raced towards the hangar. The two remaining lions shot out of their dens, and into the atmosphere where they set a course for Earth.

"What do you think it is this time?" Hunk asked, narrowly avoiding some asteroids. "It's gotta be a biggie for him to send out a signal."

"Whatever it is, it's obviously too much for him and Red to handle," Keith replied. "I hope when he wakes up, Pidge doesn't use any more of those Baltan curses he accidentally taught Lance."

"That's likely," the bulky pilot laughed, remembering the time he had accidentally used a rather vulgar curse in front of all of them once. "After all, he is Pidge."

* * *

A sudden roaring outside of Chip, Pidge and Daniel's room made them wake up with a start. They turned to see Green and Blue roaring their heads off, earning some unwelcome attention.

Larmina, dressed in a tank top and sweats, barged into the room. "Do you know what's making them so anxious?" she asked, her eyes briefly lingering on the sight of Daniel topless. She mentally waved the image away, storing it for later. "Blue's just told me that-"

"Whoa!" Daniel cried out, holding up his hands. "Did I hear you right? Blue Lion _spoke_ to you?"

"More like mind-spoke...but same thing! She told me that Red and Lance were in some deep trouble, and you know that if they wait any longer, with or without us, they'll head for Earth!" she blurted out, pointing at Chip's beeping VoltCom.

"Get dressed. Chip, can you pinpoint the exact location of Lance?" Pidge asked his brother, sliding into his flight outfit. "I know they're on Earth somewhere but I don't actually know where he is."

"Already five steps ahead of you. They're out on the wastelands of Urban City and I told Baltan Airspace that you were liable to get any urgent calls. They're waiting."

"Thanks, brother." The four Voltron members hurried outside and to Green and Blue, who quieted when their pilots drew near.

_Lady Larmina! Black Lion and Yellow Lion are on their way to aid Red Lion! _the blue robot lioness cried out, her tail arching high in the air.

"Thank you, Blue," she replied, climbing into her jaw. Daniel joined her, earning a soft growl from the lioness who detected the Haggarium in him. Larmina stroked the cool hard metal reassuringly, before climbing into the cockpit.

"You guys ready?" Pidge asked.

"Yep."

"Then let's roll."

* * *

The four lions landed around the fight, observing with obvious surprise.

"Incredible! I didn't even know that there were other animal robots!" Pidge muttered, staring open-mouthed at the ensuing fight. "I bet that the tiger probably has the same capabilities as our lions, and probably even some more!"

"HEY! Instead of chatting about how capable that thing is, think about how _dangerous _it is!" Lance yelled, narrowly avoiding a bullet to his face. "I'm practically being shredded to pieces by a girl!"

"Dude, you really need to get your game back," Hunk mused, earning a scowl from the Red pilot. "I mean, first getting pummeled by Sven and now this?"

Vince sniggered. "Looks like hotshot's got his shot frozen."

"Oh, don't mind me here, but HELP PLEASE!" Lance was now trapped underneath a pile of rubble, and the mystery girl ran to her red tigress and jumped into her open mouth, presumably to the cockpit. And inside, Claire sent out the distress signal to the rest of her teammates, hoping that they were still wearing their RogueLinks.

* * *

Maiya was dreaming about winning the Ninja Tournament when her RogueLink started to vibrate against her arm, waking her up. She rubbed her pale green eyes and they widened when she saw the incoming distress signal. What could make Claire contact the team?

Dragging herself across to her wardrobe, she opened it and pressed a hidden button on her coat rack, making the rack slide into the wall and be replaced by a single outfit.

It was black across the chest with green straps cutting the outfit off at the belly region. Some more straps began a pair of pants that ended as green high heels. There was no right arm; a length of green ribbon was wrapped around her arm instead.

Taking a deep breath, she slipped into her outfit and to her amazement, it still fit her. Smiling at her reflection in the mirror, she twirled around and closed the wardrobe door, seeing Meliss in her green ninja outfit. Nodding her approval, the two women crept out of the building, into the night and to a hidden elevator by the nearest alleyway. Pressing the down button, the elevator encased its passengers in shatterproof glass and shot down into the depths of the planet.

They arrived at a gleaming garage, with two separate vehicles in two separate hangars. Foryst the MechaFox and Beta the Wolf both sat there, waiting for their pilots to come and grace them with their presence.

_I knew that you would have to return, sometime, _Foryst commented, earning a smile from her pilot. B_eta and I were getting bored with sharpening our claws._

"Well, we're lucky that you two did. Because we're gonna need to crank our skills to the max," Maiya said.

_Against whom?_

"The Voltron Force."

* * *

In a dilapidated, run-down building on Earth, Bryan Harland, Cobalt Waller, Kick Whitten and Bennie Whyttin all fought against one another in a simulator, with each taking the appearance of a dragon when their RogueLinks beeped. They raised their eyebrows when they deciphered the code.

"Seriously? Claire? She's one of the galaxy's most kick-ass loving chicks ever!" Kick cried out. "There's practically nothing in her way!"

"Apart from the sudden fear of getting sucked up by a black hole," Bennie added. "She's right. Getting sucked up sounds a bit too...yeuch."

"Whatevs. Let's get to the vehicles," Bryan interrupted, switching off the sim. "I bet five coins that I know who she's having so much trouble with."

The four men raced down the stairwell to the basement, placing their hands and eyes on the hand scanner and retina scanner. When their identities were confirmed, a door slid open behind a boiler and the boiler cooled down, allowing the four access to the garage. Four separate hangars were divided across the room, with a black mechanic griffin, a yellow scorpion and two black and yellow wolves. Their white and black eyes flared to life, now glowing with a yellowish and bluish gleam. They lowered their heads and Hurricayne let out a rumbling purr deriving from his lion side.

_Well, I guess the mighty Bryan has finally decided to grace us with his ungrateful presence, _he teasingly spoke. _After all, it has been three years._

"I missed you too," he dryly replied. "Now get ready. We're going all-out on the Voltron Force."

_Sure, and Kick is bound to land a girlfriend anytime soon, _Sandstorme clicked, nudging the yellow and black wolves. _And not to mention that they're too high and mighty to bother with the likes of us._

"Yeah, and they can't spare time to gang up on Claire and make her send out a distress signal," Kick retorted, hauling himself into his MechaScorpion's cockpit. He felt a shudder run through his mech, and smirked.

_Okay, scratch that. I'm ready as hell! _Alpha growled, lowering his muzzle and allowing Cobalt to enter.

"I knew that would make you guys eager to go," Bennie snickered, who was inside Omega and flexed his fingers before placing them on the controller. Jerking his wolf to life, the four robots revved up their engines and were ready to blast out of the garage.

"Now let's go!"

* * *

On the arctic surface of Planet Verificus, the Palace of Ice was glowing with multicoloured lights strung all over the castle, flickering with an iridescent brilliance. The enchanted ice glittered with a dazzling gleam, which only fitted the Festival of the Aurora closing ceremony. The pinnacle of the palace was tipped with a small beacon that exuded a softly glowing blue light, that pulsated and lit up every corner of the ice palace. Within the ice palace, people wearing fur-lined robes to protect them from the cold were scattered throughout the palace, enjoying the festivities and taking the time to view some of the spectacular auroras that Verificus was so famous for.

In the ballroom, at the end of the room, King Jacques-Pierre and his son, Prince Kyre, sat in their thrones, conversing with other royals from other planets. Coran took Allura's place as the Arusian representative and was chatting quite cheerfully with the king, who was pleased to know that Lotor had finally been vanquished.

Lord Maximilian, Kyre's teenage nephew, was finishing the polar bear ice sculpture he had started a few weeks ago when on a nearby table, his uncle's RogueLink started to beep. Pursing his lips and setting down his tools, the young noble hurried to the ballroom and murmured in his ear, earning a groan of misery.

"Oh, why now of all times?" Kyre muttered to himself, standing up and gathering his blue fur cloak around him. His father shot him a steely glance but softened when his son subtly imitated the loping gait of a polar bear. Waving him off, uncle and nephew hurriedly made their way to their private chambers, where they stepped inside their wardrobes and the floor gave way to an elevator that shot them both down to Kyre's own personal garage, with Crio the MechaBear and Gamma the Wolf sedately sitting inside. Their dull eyes sparked to life with a dazzling hue of yellow and they let out a deafening roar, making their pilots cover their ears and grin at each other. So what if they were a bit loud?

_Trouble's afoot, isn't it? _Crio rumbled, shaking his shaggy head to clear accumulated ice crystals. _It's the only reason you're back._

"Come on, guys. Show us a little love!" Maximilian begged playfully, now sitting on top of Gamma's head. "It's been so long!"

_Fine, fine, _the blue wolf grumbled. _If you're that desperate..._

Max suddenly felt himself being tossed high into the air and caught in the mouth of his wolf, causing him to whoop in delight. "Now THAT's love!"

"We can share the love later," Kyre reminded sharply. "Claire needs us."

* * *

All eight vehicles and their pilots landed in the wastelands, gazing all around them. Hurricayne and Bryan stepped forwards and addressed his team members.

"Well, it's been a long three years, ain't it? But we'll reconcile later on Mirus, when we pull Claire and Roxxy out of this mess," he finished, gesturing to the ongoing fight. Now Roxxy was in it too, with Zeta clawing and biting at the lions. Immediately, the vehicles' eyes switched from their normal colour to black, upon seeing the lions. They also seemed to sense that they were being watched and turned around, their eyes also glowing black. Opening their jaws, the pilots all tumbled out and the vehicles all engaged in combat, clawing and snarling at each other.

Keith got up, groaning and holding his head. _That's going to be a nasty bruise there, _he thought to himself, before activating his dual swords. When his navy blue eyes met the light blue ones of Bryan, he frowned and crouched into a battle stance. He did the same, his electric dual katanas flickering to life.

"I thought that you said you would leave us alone," the Voltron Commander growled, circling the other commander. Bryan raised an eyebrow.

"That's a lot, coming from the man who's right-hand man attacked my teammate first," he shot back.

Silence.

"Well, it wasn't his fault," Hunk defended, clashing his Claw Hammer with Kick's Smashing Mace and avoiding a blow from Bennie's Boulder Axe. "She was the one that stole in the first place."

"I'm sorry that she can't live the high life," Kyre retorted, his staff meeting Larmina's in a shower of sparks. "She has to eat, you know!"

"Then why can't you help her?" Daniel and Cobalt were racing each other, exchanging a few blows with their claws. This earned a groan from their teammates. Of course only the speed-loving boys would go head-to-head in a race.

"Because we're satisfied living this way!" Claire narrowly missed a hook to her head and retaliated with a roundhouse kick to Lance's gut. "So I guess you could say that we don't like the high life."

"Except for Kyre and Max. Since they're already part of royalty," Roxxy piped up, her yo-yos swinging around in a dangerous arc of fire. "Verifican royalty, may I add."

Almost all the Voltron Force members fell down. What was royalty doing with these guys?

Kyre, who was the one with ice blue eyes, light blonde hair and was sparring with Larmina, rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Aw, c'mon! Now you've split our cover!" Max whined, his ice blade meeting with one of Keith's. "You just can't keep your _vanken_ mouth shut for one second, can you?"

"_Vanken_?" Lance wondered. "Mind teaching me what it means?"

"The Verifican equal to fu-"

But before Max could say it out loud, he was thrown back a few good metres, courtesy of Daniel and Cobalt both mowing him down. He let out a moan, gasping for breath.

"Hey, where's Pidge?" Vince narrowly missed a strike to the face by Roxxy's yo-yo. "Haven't seen him since he got ejected out of Green!"

"And Maiya, for that matter!" Kick rolled out of the Claw Hammer's way, springing up into a handstand and tossing his mace into it. "Last I saw her, she was rolling around with Lance!"

* * *

Black and Hurrricayne were in fierce combat, their claws locking together with a screech. Using his Shock Tail, Black managed to pin Hurricayne under him when Fyre pounced on him, driving him off her leader. Her tail blaster shot magma at his neck, earning a roar from the male lion.

_You stop that this instant! _Blue hit Fyre with a blast of ice, causing her to jump backwards. The blue lioness was preyed upon by Foryst, who snarled and bit at her leg, scratching madly at it. A few scars formed, but before the green fox could do any more damage, Green tore her off and clawed at her face. A bolt from Sandstorme's stinger sent him reeling and he advanced on the green lion.

Crio and Yellow were grappling with each other, both trying to slice each other to bits. Their claws flashed with a dangerous glint, and their sharpened tips raked small gouges on the surfaces. Yellow roared and used his tail hammer to pin down Crio but he was then knocked off by a well-placed slap from Fyre's paw.

The wolves were also assisting in the fight, using their natural hunting instincts to take down the lions one by one. Alpha was locking claws with Black, letting out a growl and wrenching him down. He used his disadvantage to call Red to help him, and the red lion complied by ramming into the black wolf. He was then jumped on by Beta and Zeta, who let out growls and used their elemental jets to hose him down.

Green and Foryst were a little way off from the main fighting, both vehicles growling at each other. The fox leapt first, and was caught off-guard as Green batted her away with a paw and used his Tail Blade to shoot throwing stars at her. They harmlessly bounced off the surface and landed at her feet, before letting out a series of beeps and exploding, creating a large depression that Foryst sank into. She let out a bark of surprise and dug in her back claws, before hauling herself up. But before her whole body was pulled out of the hole, Green pushed her even deeper into the hole, making her fall in completely.

_And stay there! _he growled, earning a pitiful cry of help from Foryst. She sat back on her haunches and let out a drawn-out whine, attracting the attention of Fyre. She growled and swatted the lion out of the way, and used her tail to winch the fox out.

* * *

Away from all the fighting, there was a different battle of sorts going on. One could even say that it was ninja-style.

A whole storm of Leaf Stars and Smart Stars was being blown across the field and they embedded themselves where their intended targets were just seconds ago. Some were deflected with the use of improvised shields or a sword.

Maiya let out grunts as she blocked off a flurry of stars with her dual-bladed sword, letting her concentration slip for a moment and allowing one of the stars to graze a small scar across her arm, some blood seeping out. She bit her lip and leapt to the side to avoid a chain of Smart Stars, nursing her wound. Holding out her hand, a fan of Leaf Stars appeared and she backflipped over the wall of debris and hurled them at Pidge and one managed to score a cut across his chin.

Unknown to them, the creatures that inhabited this desolate landscape were ones that liked to devour flesh and blood, with a sense of smell unrivaled throughout the galaxy and extraordinary eyesight. They were called the 'shark-hawks' by the local people, and with good reason. Not just because they had the senses of the animals, but because they were a grotesque physical fusion of both. With a streamlined shark's body well-adapted to 'swimming' through the scrap with a thick, tough armour of overlapping scales, the well-known and even more feared dorsal fin that poked above the debris, a pair of glossy wings, a cruelly curved beak with wicked saw-like teeth and talons with the size and sharpness of kitchen knives...well, it wasn't hard to see why they were feared. Even the young were just as vicious as their parents, if not more.

And a colony of them, as they were called collectively, was nearby.

And they smelt blood.

And worst of all, they were hungry.

* * *

Claire, who had once spent most of her time here looking for parts to repair Fyre, spotted the telltale signs of a colony nearby. Small, nearby invisible lines that curved this way and that, a few speckles of blood and feathers, a few small teeth here and there and most prominently: a single violet scale that had been recently shed. The sign of young.

She let out a cry of panic and she made a desperate dash for Fyre, who was fighting with Red. Screaming for the others to get away, she just managed to jump into Fyre's jaw before a shark-hawk surfaced and snapped at the empty air where her foot had been mere nanoseconds ago. The others had seen the incident and the Space Rogues, having been told about these creatures by Claire and Roxxy, followed her example and they quickly leapt inside their vehicles and tried to fend off the hordes of shark-hawks that popped out from nowhere.

"What the hell are they?!" Lance cried out, his Dual Pistols having no effect on them whatsoever. "Please tell me that they aren't trying to eat us!"

"Tough luck!" Bryan replied, dodging a nasty snap to Hurricayne's hindpaw. "If they don't manage to scoff you down for brunch, then have fun with the countless bruises and scars they'll leave behind!"

The effect was unamious. The Voltron pilots scrambled to get back inside their vehicles and they were then lost in a sea of scaly bodies and flapping wings. Black roared and shook off the shark-hawks that were scrabbling all over his body and used his Shock Tail to zap some of the creatures. They simply shook it off and attacked the lion with renewed vigor, their blood-red eyes glazed with an unnatural lust for blood.

"They're _daeutheyr, _Pidge!" Maiya explained, seeing the look of horror dawn on his face. "The 'death-bringers' part of Project: Scimitar!"

"But I thought they were culled!" he cried out, having to hover in the air to escape them. "The High Council said that-!"

His sentence was cut off midway as the shark-hawks sprang up from the ground and spread their feathery wings, their glossy black primaries gleaming with an unnatural sheen. They simply waved their wings and a whole barrage of dagger-like feathers embedded themselves in Green's flank a few moments later.

"_Daeutheyr?_" Keith wondered. "Does somebody mind explaining to us what they are?"

"Experiments engineered by genetic experts on Balto, first born during the Galactic War," Pidge explained. "They were designed to be the ultimate killing machine: interstellar travel, aerial travel, exceptional subterranean travel and astounding senses. We call them _daeutheyr, _meaning, 'harbingers of death'. But we call them _daeuth _for short. Which literally translates to death."

"But the _daeutheyr _developed such intelligence that they soon quickly became out of hand," Maiya supplied. "The High Council of Science had to get rid of them but we didn't know that they dumped them here on Earth!"

"Well, the 'astounding senses' part is all accounted for," Hunk sourly commented, dodging a _daeuth_'s vicious beak-swipe. "Every time I switch on Stealth, they always know where I am!"

"I'm not surprised, considering all the noise Yellow makes," Lance dryly stated, earning a lazy swipe from mentioned lion's tail hammer.

"Any weakness in their physiology?" Vince asked.

Meliss bit her lip. "That's the problem. They don't _have_ _any _weaknesses."

* * *

**It brings a kind of thrill when I write about sci-fi. I dunno why.**

**-CC and co.**


End file.
